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A clogged toilet is always an unsightly nuisance that can turn into a much bigger pain if your toilet bowl begins overflowing. Mitigate any water damage and related clean up and unclog your toilet with the use of a properly prepared plunger and effective plunging procedures.

Choose your plunger wisely. Ideally, try to secure a funnel-cup plunger for your foray into toilet bowl repair. These plungers feature an added extension, or flange, at the bottom of their plunging cups that makes them ideal for unclogging toilets. However, sometimes you just have to “love the one you’re with”, so if you lack a funnel-cup plunger, don’t despair. You should still be able to successfully unclog your toilet.

Prep your plunger before use. If your plunger is new or hasn’t been used lately, it will surely have stiffened up since your last use, and stiff plungers are not as adept at unclogging your toilet. Take your plunger and submerge it in hot water for a minute or two before tackling the toilet. This will increase plunger flexibility.
Create a solid seal with your plunger. Push down firmly with the plunger after inserting it over the toilet’s water exit hole, and then pull up just as firmly. Repeat these motion several times vigorously before removing the plunger and attempting to flush the toilet.

Close the flapper if your plunging efforts were unsuccessful and the toilet begins to overflow. Remove the toilet’s lid if you haven’t already and locate the flapper at the bottom of the tank. It will be a round, rubber piece that is connected to the flapper chain. Place your hand on the flapper to close it. This will keep further water from entering the toilet bowl.

Repeat your plunging efforts as you did before, then flush again to check for effectiveness. Repeat the plunging and flushing procedure until your toilet properly flushes without overflowing.